Rather than re-paste it here (because it's late and I'm too tired to re-check all the formatting), here is a link to my somewhat lengthy Worldcon report
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I believe the "Chinese film combining live-action and animation about monsters" you referred to is Monster Hunt. :)
I wasn't previously familiar with Hannu Rajaniemi, but I'll endeavour to give at least his short fiction a try...especially since the Helsinki Worldcon is one I'd love to attend.
Admittedly, I've only been to two Worldcons, but I recall the dealer's room at the 2003 Worldcon in Toronto being weak--and one dealer being so obnoxious to me, he managed to change my mind about buying something at his table. :/
Any potential new system for the Hugos can hypothetically be gamed by a determined-enough group of people; at least the voters this year demonstrated that there is a way to cancel that out, even if it has some remaining negative consequences.
My understanding is that many U.S. dealers would rather sell at Worldcons in Europe than Worldcons in Canada because the regulations for Canada are so difficult that even when the dealer can easily drive over the border, it's such a hassle it's not worth it for them. So a lot of great U.S. dealers stay away from Canadian cons.
So far for Hannu Rajaniemi's short work, my favorites have been:
"The Haunting of Apollo A7LB" (original to the story collection, I believe)
"Tyche and the Ants" (originally published in 2013 in anthology The Edge of Infinity)
"Deus Ex Homine" (originally published in Nova Scotia: New Scottish Speculative Fiction in 2005)
When I finish the entire collection I plan to give it its own post. It's from Tacyhon Publications, published 2015, and is simply titled Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction.
I'm not exactly one of those "Deregulate everything!" people, but I do think Canadian regulations get overly protectionist when they lead to consequences like that. (It's also a big reason why I've never gotten a mobile phone--have you seen what plans cost here with the lack of any outside competition?!)
On a brighter note, Collected Fiction has already been added to my Amazon Wishlist. :)
It's not the Canadian regulations which scare away a lot of the dealers. It's American Customs, which has developed a marked tendency to play "because we can" since 2001. There are several horror stories out there about dealers who were forced out of business by having their entire returning stock confiscated.
That's too bad, and odd that it seems to be an American-customs-along-this-specific-border problem (since they also have to come back through customs for the European Worldcons). Sounds like a bit of a power trip.
I get the feeling that, depending on the dealer and the event in question, it's a little of Column A and a little of Column B--a perfect storm of regulations and power-tripping which causes compounded problems for Canadian conventions. :/
One reason that the dealer room at TorCon was so weak is that, although the con committee had done the paperwork to have the convention declared a class of entity which exempted dealers from much of the paperwork, that knowledge was not conveyed in the preliminary dealer packet. We heard a LOT of grumbling about that afterwards, from dealers who would have gone if they'd known.
Communications breakdowns, always so much fun. NOT.
Sheesh, did I ever drop the ball on replying to this comment promptly!
I'm saddened (but not surprised) to hear that a communications breakdown was at least part of the problem with TorCon in 2003--there were many aspects to that convention that seemed only half-organised and strangely sparse for an event at that level.
I wasn't previously familiar with Hannu Rajaniemi, but I'll endeavour to give at least his short fiction a try...especially since the Helsinki Worldcon is one I'd love to attend.
Admittedly, I've only been to two Worldcons, but I recall the dealer's room at the 2003 Worldcon in Toronto being weak--and one dealer being so obnoxious to me, he managed to change my mind about buying something at his table. :/
Any potential new system for the Hugos can hypothetically be gamed by a determined-enough group of people; at least the voters this year demonstrated that there is a way to cancel that out, even if it has some remaining negative consequences.
Reply
So far for Hannu Rajaniemi's short work, my favorites have been:
When I finish the entire collection I plan to give it its own post. It's from Tacyhon Publications, published 2015, and is simply titled Hannu Rajaniemi: Collected Fiction.
Reply
On a brighter note, Collected Fiction has already been added to my Amazon Wishlist. :)
Reply
Reply
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Communications breakdowns, always so much fun. NOT.
Reply
I'm saddened (but not surprised) to hear that a communications breakdown was at least part of the problem with TorCon in 2003--there were many aspects to that convention that seemed only half-organised and strangely sparse for an event at that level.
Reply
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